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One up and one down was good news on Monday for the University of Northern Colorado men’s basketball team.

The Bears moved up to No. 14 in the CollegeInsider.Com Mid-Major poll and down to No. 166, down 32 spots, in the RPI rankings.

Their recognition has everything to do with the Bears leading the Big Sky Conference at 4-0, their 10-3 overall mark and their four-game win streak.

However, the Bears aren’t paying much attention to their accolades, instead focusing on the big picture of where they stand in late February.

“For a long time, we’ve wanted to be in this position and it’s an honor and a privilege,” said junior forward Tim Huskisson, who was named as the BSC Co-Player of the Week on Monday. “I look at those guys in that locker room and their faces and nobody thinks we’ve accomplished anything. Accomplishing something is winning it, and we haven’t done that.”

The Bears started the week tied for the conference lead with Montana State and ranked No. 22 in the CollegeInsider.Com Mid-Major poll.

After Saturday’s 82-75 victory over Idaho State University, two days after an impressive 70-51 victory over Weber State University, the Bears were alone in first place in the BSC at 4-0, moving up in the poll and gaining respect from opposing coaches.

“They’re the best team in the conference, right now,” Weber State coach Randy Rahe said on Thursday night. They’re a veteran team and they play like it. They’re playing really well.”

Idaho State coach Bill Evans was equally impressed with the Bears’ overall play on Saturday night, adding, “they’re very good. They’re very physical and they don’t back down.”

UNC is the lone unbeaten team in conference play at 4-0. It’s the first time since the 2010-11 season when they started league play at 7-0, went on to win the regular-season conference title, the BSC postseason tournament and advanced to the prestigious NCAA tournament.

Dating back to last season UNC has won seven straight regular-season BSC games and 10 of its last 11.

The Bears will be on the road for conference action for the first time this season on Thursday when they travel to Montana State (3-1) and then to Montana on Saturday to take on the two-time defending conference champion Grizzlies.

UNC coach B.J. Hill was concerned with the Bears’ lack of defense against Idaho State — the Bengals shot 56 percent from the field — but planned to address it in practice this week.

“Every road game is difficult and it’s hard to get a road win in Division I basketball,” Hill said. “Where we play doesn’t concern me. How we play concerns me. We need to play a lot better.”

In last week’s action, Huskisson averaged 17 points, 3.5 assists, three rebounds and one steal. He shot 55 from the field, 71.4 from the free throw line and drained 7 of 11 from 3-point range.

Against Weber State, Huskisson scored 12 points with a career-high five assists, three rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot. He followed that up against Idaho State with a career-high 22 points (18 in the first half), three rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Jois, a 6-foot-7 forward from Boronia, Australia, averaged 14 points, 8.5 rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and 1.5 steals as the Eagles beat Montana and Montana State at home.

Second semester classes started Monday for the Bears, and Huskisson pointed out that “with school starting, we won’t be full-time athletes anymore but I don’t think that will be a distraction for us. We know where we’re going and we’ll stay true to ourselves and be patient. We can handle the road trip. It’s a long process ahead of us. We have 16 more (BSC) games.”